During the large scale, commercial production of certain polymers, a deposition of a polymer skin on reactor walls can occur. This polymer skin can adversely affect heat transfer between the reactor and the cooling system, and ultimately, can impair control of the polymerization reaction and polymer production rates. Once the polymer skin has formed on reactor walls, it may remain on the reactor walls indefinitely, or until such time as the reactor can be opened and the walls cleaned mechanically. A shutdown to clean the polymer skin formation from the reactor walls can be very costly in terms of both manpower and lost production.
It would be beneficial to develop new methods to remove polymer skins from reactor walls and surfaces without having to resort to a complete reactor shutdown, and the associated cost, clean-up, and downtime. Accordingly, it is to this end that the present disclosure is directed.